Common will play a freedom fighter and member of John Connor’s (played by Christian Bale) inner circle. The story of the film centers on John Connor who is now in his 30s and who now leads what is left of the human race in a battle against the machines.

The cast list right now looks like this:

• Christian Bale – John Connor, leader of the resistance
• Sam Worthington – a central character in the planned three picture arc
• Anton Yelchin – Connor’s friend and future father Kyle Reese
• Moon Bloodgood – a no-nonsense and battle-hardened member of the resistance who is carrying a lot of guilt over surviving the nuclear holocaust
• Common – freedom fighter and member of John Connor’s inner circle
• Josh Brolin (rumored) – director mentioned him as an ideal Terminator, but has not been confirmed for the cast

McG is directing from a script by John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, and Paul Haggis.

Terminator 4 is set to hit theaters on May 22, 2009.

The Surrogates is set in the near future where humans live in isolation, and, rather than making the effort to step out of doors themselves, interact through surrogate robots who are basically “better-looking versions” of themselves. Willis will play a cop who uses his surrogate to investigate the murders of other surrogates. As the mystery of a conspiracy unfolds he will have to do the unthinkable and actually leave his house for the first time in years in order to solve the crimes.

Rhames will play a charismatic cult figure who disdains the use of surrogates and tries to lead an uprising against the “new world order.”

Also joining the cast is are Australian actress Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill, Finding Neverland, Pitch Black) as Willis’ professional partner, and British thespian Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day, Fracture) as his wife. Ned Vaughn (TV’s Cane and The Unit) also recently joined the cast.

Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Boston for a November 20, 2009 release.

According to Terminator mythology (which is getting more complicated all the time), Reese was born after the first war and survived the capture and killing of his fellow humans only to be put into one of Skynet’s concentration camps. John Connor, Reese’s son, led a resistance movement that freed Reese and some others from the Skynet camp. Reese then volunteered to go back in time to the year 1984 to protect Sarah Connor, the mother of John Connor who is the resistance leader, from a Terminator sent by Skynet to kill her before she can give birth to John to stop him from leading the resistance.

As will sometimes happen when you time travel, Reese gets into some shenanigans that actually bring about the future he’s trying to save…don’t ask me about the paradox effect. All I know is that while running from the Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), Reese and Sarah have a night of “relations” that ultimately impregnates Sarah and brings about her son, John. Reese was later killed by his own pipe-bomb while attempting to destroy the Terminator. I’m not sure how the TV series has added to this story.

Now, from what we know about Terminator 4, Reese becomes friends with Marcus (played by Sam Worthington – now cutting his chops on James Cameron’s Avatar), an early version of the Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the first film. Christian Bale will play a 30 year old John Connor now fighting desperately to save a decimated civilization against machines that have taken control. Other plot details are still sketchy.

With production scheduled to start in early May, Paul Haggis (writer of Crash, Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace) also has been in talks about coming on board to do some rewrites on the script. David Campbell Wilson, John Brancato and Michael Ferris wrote the screenplay.

So what do you think? Will Anton Yelchin make a good Reese?

I have mentioned being a fan of Mostow before because of the work he did in Breakdown and U-571. He also directed Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The screenplay for The Surrogates, based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti from Top Shelf Comix, was written by Michael Ferris and John Brancato, who also collaborated with Mostow on T3.

Willis was originally set to star in Pinkville, a drama about the My Lai massacre, for Oliver Stone, but United Artists put that project on hold due to the writer’s strike. Willis moved into this project for Disney. The studio is eyeing a February production start in Boston.

The Surrogates is set in the near future (2054, I believe), where humans live in isolation, and, rather than making the effort to step out of doors themselves, interact through surrogate robots who are basically “better-looking versions” of themselves (yeah, seems like that could be near future). Willis will (once again) play a cop who uses his surrogate (his better half) to investigate the murders of other surrogates. As the mystery of a conspiracy unfolds he will have to do the unthinkable and actually leave his house for the first time in years in order to solve the crimes.

It all sounds pretty darn cool to me. I’m much more excited about the possibilities of this film than I was about the Oliver Stone war drama. I picture it as a cross between Minority Report and Blade Runner although I’ll admit that I haven’t read the comics and really don’t know the first thing about the tone of the story. I will definitely be keeping my eyes on this one.